Friends: When I write it is usually out of a deep concern for our country and the world in which we live, and not to hawk a project except, perhaps, in those cases where entertainment and a cultural message can be married. This is one of those times. Also, the producer of the project, Mark Joseph, is one big pain in the butt and wouldn’t leave me alone until I did this. I know it comes from his passion for the project and he is a friend, so here’s the trailer for the new John Schneider film “Doonby“:

I don’t have a major role in the film. I did my best to serve sensitive English director/writer Peter Mackenzie’s vision, as I always do when I take on a project. Speaking of the English, I confess I did watch the Royal Wedding and was moved. In this chaotic world a little romance and beauty is good for the soul. To see the crowds cheering was very emotional, but more importantly, it proved that a tradition for love and magic is what we all yearn for, as opposed to the latest celebrity rehab reality show. We yearn for the nobility of the human soul, the best it has to offer, not the lowest that we are barraged with continually on television and elsewhere. The poetry of life has given way to crude and destructive programming . But last week while watching the marriage of a beautiful young couple, two billion people dreamed.

One of my favorite films is “It’s a Wonderful Life.” When first released it was not received well because it was considered “Capracorn,” a derogatory term referring to the sentimental and heartfelt emotion that director Frank Capra infused in his work. So of course the cynics panned it, but the public eventually discovered it and today it is considered a classic . The basic theme of Capra’s classic is that one life can make a difference, and here n lies the similarity to “Doonby. ” Only this time you have John Schneider in the Jimmy Stewart role.

How many of us may have imagined what things would be like if we did not exist – – what lives would be touched or not? I have not seen the finished film so cannot give you a full rundown, but from what I’ve been told it packs a wallop.